| From: | Sommers sommers@*****.edu |
|---|---|
| Subject: | OFFTOPIC Rubbish about is magic real/kirlian auras |
| Date: | Tue, 14 Sep 1999 17:22:13 -0400 |
>At 10.51 09-14-99 +0100, you wrote:
>No, I just have an odd and large family, by which I include my adopted
>siblings and my mentors (perhaps closer to the term sensei, but since not
>all of it is martial and none of them are Japanese, I don't know if it
>works that well), one of whom is dieing from several non-operable cancers
>as a result of exposure to defoliants in SEA. He's officially got until
>the New Year, but there are some things that are being looked at someplace
>in Europe (France, maybe?) that are based on bloodroot that have him really
>revved up to the point that is what keeps him going some days.
I hope that your friend is able to hang on. Not a lot of good things come
out of the cancer, sometimes it seems the best that can happen is that the
person is comfortable.
> However, bloodroot is a very potent biocide, to point that if it
> didn't
>kill your skin in the process, concentrated bloodroot washes would take
>care of ANY kind of dermal infection deposits. The FDA is leary of
>anything herbal (simply becuase mother nature is paying them to fast track
>stuff, I swear), and becuase bloodroot in any kind of significant
>concentration could do so much damage to healthy tissue if it wasn't
>flushed in time.
Its not so much that the FDA is against anything herbal than they're
supposed to be cautious and conservative. The biggest case they point to is
Thalidomide, where a lot of European countries approved it and the US
didn't. Then the Thalidomide babies started being born...
The problem with herbals (from a regulatory point of view) is that they are
hard to quantify. If you have a drug of makeup XX, its effects generally
don't vary hugely from patient to patient. There are differences in
people's blood chemistry, but aspirin will generally cause headaches to
lessen, etc. With herbals there can be a lot more variation, from how well
it was originally grown, to how fresh it is, to how much is put into the
medicine made. While it might very well be effective for one patient, it
does absolutely nothing for another. And more importantly, if another
person tries to make the same batch, he has trouble reproducing the same
results on the same person.
Slightly back on target, I wonder how drug testing works in Shadowrun? I
guess there would still be an FDA, because the drugs would be sold to
people in the UCAS. But how does that interact with ET?
> I've waited tables, pumped gas, substitute taught, done a couple
> webpages
>and been a student. I know most of the folks I do through the family.
>Other than that, everytime I leave my homeland, I realise just how unique
>we are. How long that will last is anyone's guess.
Wow, sounds like you've had almost as many jobs as I have. Can't wait til I
actually start my career. :)
> >So, it's not the truth then? ;-))
>
> Smartass.
> To me, "fact" is what officially happened, and "truth" is
what really
>happened. Quite often, they are the same, but sometimes...
I actually thought it was the other was. Fact is what can be determined by
many different people independently, no matter what their philosophical
background. Truth is dependent of which belief system you ascribe to.
That's why they teach "truth" in philosophy and "fact" in geology. Of
course, people are still wondering what they teach in Law school Ethics. ;)
> History is written by the winners.
I'll agree with that one.
>Kevin Dole, aka CyberRaven, aka IronRaven, aka Steel Tengu
>http://members.xoom.com/iron_raven/
>"Science: a religion that is bent on denying the nature of reality unless
>that reality can be shot, autopsied, measureed, cataloged and stuffed for
>display."
>"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in
>your philosophy."
Sommers
Insert witty quote here.
